St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-09-08
The Business Interests of the
City Threatened by the
Maligner's Pen.
Chief Clark Says the City
! Was Never under Better
y Police Protection.
MayOp Smith and Citizens Gen.
orally Denounee the Writer
in SevereSt Terms.

The editorial published in the Pioneer
Press yesterday morning kicked up a
lively sentiment among the citizens of st.
Paul; of different brand, however, than
the writer of the screed intended it
should. Men were heard denouncing
that spasmodic sheet for heralding to
the world the insinuatiOn that st. Paul
was paradise for gamblers and city
where respectable people could not live.
sit is a glazing outrage" said one
prominent citizen, land the whole outfit
ought to be dumped into the river. The
citizens should rise in body and resent
the insult that has been thrown in their
teeth by that paper"
And the citizens did rise individually
and scored the editor numerically.
He must be a very well bal
anced sort of a curiosity" said
a Third street business man, 81 pre-
sumo he's the same euridite individual
who Informed the public that the
banquet given Senator Beck was for the
purpose of booming him for the vice
presidency. He didn't know that Beck
was ineligible to the Office through Scot
fish nativity, and he probably knew
less about what he wrote last night"
Another said: "The effort of this
writer of double loaded fancies to fix a
blot upon the fair eScutcheOn of st.
Paul is worthy of the
sEvEREST CONDEMNATION,
as there is base reflection upon the
purity of the wives and daughters of
st. Paul citizens; there is a poisoned
javelin thrown at the very heart of her
business interests; there is a warning
sent into the outside world like
the wall of pain and misery
that went up from the lips of
the lepers of Jerusalem u mclean! IN
cleanP The people of the North, the
East, the South and the West have been
told that st. Paul, the queen city of the
Northwest, whose glory and enterprise
and progress has heretofore been the
wonder of the world, is cess pool of
maelStrOm of corruption, city Of lust
and the headquarters of evil, a great
community of libertineS and hOnOrleSS
women. He says it would be as well to
carry an open casket of jewels through
the thieves quarters as for defense
less woman to walk through the streets
of ST. Paul."
Would it?
The people say no!
CHIEF CLARK'S REMARKS.
The GLOBE took occasion yesterday
to interview many leading citizens and
public officials regarding their opinions
of the editorial referred to above. Chief
of Police Clark was found in his Office
at the central station, and he said he
thought it was a pretty rough way to
treat the people, especially when the
paper depended on their patronage for
support. AS to the wide-open policy,
he said the Pioneer Press had" had
spasmS every few months since it was
established, and while it was in convul-
sions would howl and scream i'll an i'm
beetle way about the wide-open policy.
In his opinion he didn't believe there
was an editorial writer on the paper
who could tell a wide-open pol
icy if he should meet it, in
broad daylight. ''There has neverbeen
a time" said he, ''when the city was so
free from vice and crime as it has been
during the past six months. There is no
reason to blame st. Paul if cheap
actor comes down from Minneapolis and
gets mixed up in an alleged outrage on
girl also from Minneapolis. st. Paul
people are behaving themselves all
right and if there are crimes committed
in these blocks we don't hear anything
about them. There isn't a gambling
house in St. Paul and there won't be if
[ can help it. The city was
never under better police surveillance
than it is now. Of course disreputa-
BILE characters will get into the
blocks were furnished rooms are rented !;
it is impossible to keep them out, but
whenever it is possible for the police to
get hold of them they are nabbed and
punished. The statistics of crime in
this city, compared with the criminal
statistics of any Of the large cities in
the United States, show the ratio to be
less in st. Paul than any other city.
This talk about no decent woman being
safe on our streets in the evening, is too
funny. Nobody has heard of a decent
woman being moleSted on the streets of
this city within the past year, if she
was out at proper hour for woman to
be abroad, and I'll warrant you that
decent women feel as safe on the streets
of st. Paul after dark as they would in
any city in the Union"
MAYOR SMITH TALKS.
Mayor Smith sat in his office chatting
with bootblack who was putting
polish ON his boots, when the GLOBE
representative walked in and asked him
what he thought of the editorial in the
Pioneer Press.
II think it is the worst outrage ever
perpetrated On the people of st. Paul."
said he. 1.-THE idea of giving the out
side world the impression that we are
community of gamblers and blacklegs
and thieves is preposterous and should
be resented by every decent citizen of
this city. That is splendid report to
send out into the surrounding country
about us, isn't it. Why, it's the worst
thing l ever heard of. l don't believe
there's a gambling house in the city. If
there is don't know it. l told Chief
Clark yesterday to keep his men
on the lookout for any at
tempts to open houses of this kind, and
if they found anything of the kind
going on to arrest the principals at once
and punish them. The chief told me
that there was not gambling house in
the city, and | don't believe there is,
and don't believe there is another city
in the Union SO well protected against
crime as st. Paul is"
0e JUDGE EGAN'S sCoRCH.
County Attorney Egan was not slow
to express his opinion of the editorial.
said he: Il think the man that wrote
that editorial was crazy. Why, it's the
worst SANDER ON the citizens of st. Paul
ever given them, and they ought to re-
sent it, every one of them. Why, just
think what effect an article of that kind
will have on people outside of the city.
They'll read it and get the impression
that we're the rOtteneSt community on
the face of the earth. l can't under
stand what that editor was thinking Of"
: II w. A. VAN Sykes IDEA.
I w. A. Van Slyke, man who is better
informed on the condition of ST. Paul
oniall sides than most citizens, said last